At E3 Reggie Fils-Aime let the world know he wasn’t satisfied with the sales progress of the Wii or DS in 2007 and hopes Nintendo can do better this year. Perhaps Nintendo is playing the humble card? No doubt they bragged about their 10 million sales of the Wii and 20 million sales of the DS but quickly followed it by saying they’re not satisfied.
Or, is this a threat?
Nintendo has built some steep competition while both Sony and Microsoft scoff at their product and tell everyone its a novelty and it doesn’t really “count” in this next-generation console battle. It doesn’t count… really?
Perhaps Microsoft and Sony are right; maybe every Wii owner that wanted a PlayStation 3 and/or an Xbox 360 purchased their console too. There may be some truth to that as hardcore gamers may purchase a Wii for many reasons:
- They want every console so they have the widest array of game purchases
- They’re hardcore nature forces them to spend money on all products
- They want to get their kids in on gaming early, to grow them up in their image
- Mob mentality, if everyone has a Wii you must as well!
- The technology is cool and you want to be there for its inception
It seems they don’t feel a threat because Wii is a non-gamer console and thus attracts a different crowd… yet they’re both mimicking some of the motion sensing in their own controllers and playing nice towards “casual games” and non-gamers of late. Maybe their not threatened, but impressed?
Fils-Aime isn’t impressed with their sales figures, perhaps because he expected a higher degree of Wii sales by now, but the fact that people cannot purchase them two years into production has hurt sales figures. Although 10 million units sold is an impressive figure, knowing you had such higher potential if the product was actually on the shelves has to hurt a bit of your pride.
The DS sales were impressive considering the product has been in the market for awhile and is easier to find (minus the holiday rush). We’re not sure why he’s not satisfied with the figures, but inspiring a higher degree of DS sales will require some work. Perhaps this is why they’ve gone with the GTA Chinatown approach; using the GTA name to grow their DS sales figures?
It will be interesting to see how Wii does through the next few quarters and if sales slow down now that we’re a few years into the product. What was the last home console Nintendo owned to get this high of a demand?
Perhaps none.
This weeks gaming podcast covers a bunch of crazy content, we’re putting out the question, are collectors editions games going a bit too far? Also, a look back at UniRacers, before Rockstar North was known as Rockstar and history on the gameboy and its portable madness.
Great episode and nice to see quick turn around for this!
@Indi Dev: Not sure there is much to add that hasn’t already been said. I hope that the Dev can fix his situation as Paul was pointing out it did seem like he was very unprepared for managing this. I still feel that this is a sign to be cautious with Kickstarter, but not out right abandoning it. As Jonah pointed out there were worse cases.
@Fallout 4: I am looking forward to this game, also FO series wasn’t always First Person perspective, it used to be Isometric like Wasteland 2. So for some Wasteland 2 is like having a Isometric Fallout 3.
I loved the trailer, the color scheme seems so much more alive than in FO3 and FO NV. I think I prefer a voiced protagonist so I am looking forward to that as well.
@Steam returns: I can see how this can be easily abused, however I too have a lot of games on my list some I want to play and some that I don’t have any intention of playing but got through others or through Humble Bundle. Also when games start being like $2 it’s really harder to feel that need to resist.
Now here’s a Question since it’s been awhile for a QotW: Which do you prefer a Voiced protagonist (or one that talks at least via text if not voice) or a Blank slate (Chrono, Link, Mario, etc)